Sara Reads Things

Title: Highland Conquest By: Heather McCollum Genre: Historical Romance Pages: 384 Release Date: April 28th, 2020 Publisher:  Entangled: Amara Rating: ★★★★★ Summary from Goodreads: Cain Sinclair has a plan. In order to finally bring peace to his clan, he will wed the young female chief of their greatest enemy. Only problem: capturing her and forcing her back to Sinclair castle doesn’t exactly make her want to say  yes . Ella Sutherland may be clever, passionate, and shockingly beautiful, but what she isn’t is  willing . Every attempt Cain makes to woo her seems to backfire on him. A gift? The kitten practically claws his eyes out. A competitive game of chess? Even when he wins, he loses. It seems the only time the two ever see eye to eye is when they’re heating up Cain’s bed. Still, the only thing Ella truly wants is the one thing he cannot offer her: freedom. But when Cain discovers she’s been harboring a secret—one that could threaten both clans’ ...

Monday! Survived another week of Covid-19. Its been very stressful around here. I work in a Credit Union, so an essential job. We have been doing all we can to make sure our members feel secure in their finances right now, but its been rough. We've had so many requests for assistance, I can't keep up. I have a feeling when this is all done and things go back to normal, my body is going to shut down from all the stress and work. I'm hoping to come out of this in one piece. With all the work I've been putting in, I've also been buckling down on my reading since I listen to audio books a lot while I work. This weeks book is Reflection by Elizabeth Lim. The book is a retelling of Mulan. I mean, with a tag line like this, " What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?" How could you not read it? I'm excited for this one.  Supplies have been spotty at best, so I hope to find all my ingredients. I hope you do too. Enjoy! MENU Monday Oktobe...

Another week down. Another week stuck at home. My kids are doing OK with the quarantine, but the rest of us are a little stir crazy. I don't know how much quiet time I can take. I need to use my brain more.  I hope all of you are safe and healthy. The world is crazy out there with some people going overboard by hoarding toilet paper and others not taking it seriously enough. I know we closed down my work to appointment only because people were making bad decisions and coming in for things that could wait until this all blows over. I ask that all of you make good decision and try to stop the spread.  Lets move on to this weeks recap. Here we go! Sunday Confessions #36 ~ Weekly Menu #344 And The Book Of The Week ~ Movie Review: Rise of Skywalker ~ Book Review: What You Wish For by Katherine Center ~ 10 Dystopian Books to Read During Your Quarantine ~ Book Review: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang Weekly Menu #345 And The Book Of The Wee...

Title: The Bride Test By: Helen Hoang Genre: Contemporary Romance Pages: 296 Release Date: May 7th, 2019 Publisher:  Berkley Rating: ★★★☆☆ Summary from Goodreads: Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s...

With the world coming to a complete halt and most of us stuck inside as we try to stop the spread of Covid-19, we find that we have a lot of time on our hands. I don't know about you, but I've been trying to fill my time with books instead of TV.  Because I've been thinking a lot about what the world could be and what its looking like outside without a soul in sight, I've put together 10 of my favorite dystopian books to get you through the next few weeks. Enjoy! Shade's Children (Shade's Children) by   Garth Nix   (Goodreads Author) The Key to Survival Rests in the Hands of Shade's Children If you’re lucky, you live to fight another day. In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no child shall live a day past his fourteenth birthday. On that Sad Birthday, the child is the object of an obscene harvest resulting in the construction of a machine like creature whose sole purpose is to kill. The mysterious Shad...

Title: What You Wish For By: Katherine Center Genre: Fiction Pages: 320 Release Date: July 14th, 2020 Publisher:  St. Martin's Press Rating: ★★★★☆ Summary from Goodreads:  From Katherine Center, the  New York Times  bestselling author of  How to Walk Away  comes a stunning new novel full of heart and hope. Samantha Casey loves everything about her job as an elementary school librarian on the sunny, historic island of Galveston, Texas—the goofy kids, the stately Victorian building, the butterfly garden. But when the school suddenly loses its beloved principal, it turns out his replacement will be none other than Duncan Carpenter—a former, unrequited crush of Sam’s from many years before. When Duncan shows up as her new boss, though, he’s nothing like the sweet teacher she once swooned over. He’s become stiff, and humorless, and obsessed with school safety. Now, with Duncan determined to destroy everything Sam loves about her school i...

Title: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Genre: Scifi Release Date: December 20th, 2019   My Rating: ★★★★☆ IMDB Rating:  6.8/10 Cast:  Carrie Fisher ,  Mark Hamill ,  Adam Driver Summary from IMDB:  The surviving members of the resistance face the First Order once again, and the legendary conflict between the Jedi and the Sith reaches its peak bringing the Skywalker saga to its end. IMDB Trailer Review: I have waited patiently to see this movie. I love Star Wars and the whole universe around it. This movie was a nice wrap up to the newest trilogy, but I can see why some people didn't like it. It felt really contrived at times. Almost as if there were too many coincidences and the story didn't flow on its own. With all that said, the characters that we loved really brought the story to life. The fighting was epic and cinematic worth watching. I felt letdown in the end by a certain character, but I'm not going to give it all away f...

Monday! Did you survive another week of Coronavirus? We did. Things are really getting crazy out there. I work in the banking industry and we just shut the doors to a few of our branches and have closed our lobbies to appointment only, just because people are being unsafe and immature. You don't need to come into a branch just to drop of your check order form. That is not necessary right now. In fact, that can be done over the phone. Stay home people! I've also noticed an influx in books being available digitally at the library. I guess people are reading more now that they are stuck at home. Those are my kind of people. Unfortunately for me, I am still working through all of this so people can still have access to their money. My reading will continue as usual. I'm going to dive into Across the Universe by Beth Revis to take my mind away from this world. I think we all need a break and this one sounds like what I need. Stay safe this week and enjoy the menu.... If...

Well, we made it through the week without contracting the Coronavirus. I hope you are all healthy as well. Oregon shut down all the schools until the first of April, and Washington doesn't have school until May. This is getting crazy people. What am I supposed to do with the kids for three weeks? Every place we could go for entertainment is closed! We must survive! Sunday Confessions #35 ~ Weekly Menu #343 And The Book Of The Week ~ Movie Review: Missing Link ~ Book Review: Hunted by Meagan Spooner ~ Movie Review: Gemini Man ~ Book Review: The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin Weekly Menu #344 And The Book Of The Week ~ Book Review: What You Wish For by Katherine Center ~ Book Review: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang ~ Sunday Confessions #37   Fiesta Chicken Casserole @ The Art of Deco & Recipe ~ 13 Historical fiction books about women in the civil war @ Bookbub 30/50 Books in my Read Around the Country chall...